And not Zito, circa 2002 when he won the AL Cy Young Award for the Oakland Athletics. They need Greinke to be the Zito who pitched the game of his San Francisco Giants life last October, when the Giants found themselves in exactly the same situation the Dodgers are in right now — trailing the St. Louis Cardinals three games to one in the best-of-seven NLCS.

In that contest, Zito threw 7 2/3 shutout innings at Busch Stadium, allowing just six hits and a walk while striking out six. It was the signature performance of his oft-disappointing time with the Giants, with whom he spent seven years after signing a $126 million deal in December 2006. After that game, of course, the Giants won the final two games of the NLCS and then swept the Detroit Tigers in the World Series.

Greinke, who is at the end of Season 1 of the six-year, $147 million deal he signed last December, would love to duplicate his highly paid contemporary’s performance on baseball’s big stage. The biggest difference between the two: If Greinke pulls off the gem, nobody will be stunned. Or really even surprised.

Greinke has been great for the Dodgers, and he pitched very well in Game 1, striking out 10 Cardinals and allowing just four hits and two runs in eight innings. In Zito’s previous start last October, he failed to make it out of the third inning against the Reds in the NLDS.

But Greinke gives the Dodgers hope for an extended life. And if they survive Wednesday afternoon’s contest, they’ll return to St. Louis for a Game 6, where a fully rested Clayton Kershaw will start for Los Angeles. And if they survive that game, Hyun-Jin Ryu, who blanked the Cardinals for seven innings in Game 3, will start in Game 7.

“The best thought I have is I’ve got one of the best pitchers in baseball pitching tomorrow,” Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said during his postgame press conference Tuesday. “If we come out here tomorrow and play well and get a win, I’ve probably got the best pitcher in baseball pitching the next day, and Ryu hasn’t been too bad.”

Plus, y’know, the rival Giants just pulled off the improbable feat last October.

In the final three games of that NLCS, the Cardinals scored just one run against San Francisco pitching, on 19 hits. In the first three games of this NLCS—against Greinke, Kershaw and Ryu—they scored just four runs.